Friday Five: March Rambles

It's March already, and I realized last week that in spite of my good intentions, I haven't written anything here in quite some time.  I even updated the blog look for winter, then didn't finish any posts to go with the new theme (though I started two).  I do miss writing and rambling here, but I'll admit that other forms of social media have become my go-to for quick snippets and pics of everyday life.

BUT...this year I decided to take the season of Lent mostly off from social media.  I chose to make it not a *complete* fast (although I feel that sometime I should do that), because I am committed to participating in a faith study with my local moms' group on Facebook.  So my plan is to allow myself a little time to check in there on the weekends, and maybe a quick peek at Instagram.  In the meantime, I'm not including blogs or blogging in "social media," as that's not a place where I've struggled lately to maintain a balance.  While my main goal for the Lenten weeks is to spend time focusing on my family, doing some neglected housekeeping projects, and spending more time with my local friends (and doing some much-needed spiritual introspection), I also decided to make a goal of posting something here at least a few times, to scratch the writing itch and perhaps fire up my love of blogging again. 

So, since I never completed any New Year's posts, I decided to jump back in with a rambly, fun post instead.  We'll call it the Friday Five: March Rambles edition.

Ramble 1: So far, March hasn't felt at all like spring.  Although today...it's finally in the mid-30s with bright gorgeous sunshine!!!  The past weeks have been cold (think January cold!) and snowy.  We have ridiculous amounts of snow, and since we haven't had much warm weather to melt it, it just keeps piling up.  I have most of my winter decorations still up, because, well, it still seems appropriate.  But I'm feeling the urge to start putting out some springy stuff soon.  The coming week is supposed to be warmer, and I'm definitely looking forward to that!

Ramble 2: In addition to being a cold and snowy winter, it's also been a good winter for wildlife.  We've enjoyed watching a pileated woodpecker, numerous other birds at the feeder, a little white weasel with a black tip on its tail, a porcupine (which unfortunately died), and lots of deer.  Also a fox, and a barred owl, which even found its way into the chicken coop at one point, and surprised Josiah by flying out over his head when he went to do the morning chores.  (Amazingly it hadn't harmed any chickens...maybe it was just in there to catch mice?)  The deer have been very active this week and we counted 13+ in the backyard both yesterday and today.

And we saw the fox yesterday too, at the same time as some of the deer.

Ramble 3: I've been mulling over the beauty of community lately.  Ten years ago I was a stay-at-home mom of three little kids ages 5 and under, and I could count my local friends on one hand.  And I didn't have the chance to get together with those few friends very often, either.  We were commuting an hour away to church, and I hadn't had the chance to really build close friendships with many ladies there.  So much has changed in the past ten years and I'm incredibly grateful.  Seasons and friendships come and go, and some of the things that have changed have been hard, but in the process God has given me the gift of many more local friends.  Not only do I have people pouring into me, but I get  to (hopefully!) pour into others' lives, I have a local church now with a number of dear friends, I've been able to get to know other local moms through homeschooling, the library, moms' group, and even swim lessons.  Truly I'm amazed at the ways God brings new friends into our lives!  At the same time I'm also grateful for old friends, many of whom are not local to me, but still are a blessing to me as we're able to be connected in various ways across the miles.

Ramble 4: I am loving the preschool age with this little girl: 

This video is from back in the fall, but I still love it!!  Also, if you haven't checked out Mackenzie Koppa's podcast, The Same Page, I highly recommend it!  Ari memorized this scene from Romeo and Juliet just from listening the podcast every day for a few weeks.

I also love how she still says some words wrong.  A current favorite is "smallow," which is her word for swallow! 😂

Ramble 5: I've recently embarked on yet another weight-loss journey (it's about time, seeing as my baby is 4 years old...incidentally, the last time I lost significant weight, Josiah was my "baby" at the time, and also 4, so maybe that is the magic age for me??), and I've lost a little over 4 lbs in the past month.  I've been working out 5-6 days a week since the beginning of February, and another helpful tool for me has been the Lose It! app (free version).  I'm not getting super consumed with making sure my calories for each day are accurate, but it's been helpful to see where I might be overdoing things here and there, and trying to come in somewhere in the ballpark of their recommendation.  I also did a 40 day sugar fast back in Jan/Feb, and that helped a lot, as now I don't crave sugar quite so much and have been able to save it mostly for special occasions.

Okay, that wraps up today's post...we have a busy weekend ahead, but I hope to write more next week.  Till then... have a good weekend!😊